I’ve got a trip coming up this week so I’m gathering my travel necessities. My new favorite thing to bring (when I’m traveling solo, that is) is my iPod with a few episodes of my favorite podcasts. You can subscribe to podcasts through iTunes, or visit the podcast links below for more info.
I listen to these podcasts every week while I’m working in my studio. Sometimes working in solitude is amazing, other times it can be quite lonely. These keep me in good company:
NPR’s This American Life
My favorite, not to be missed. Whether the stories make me laugh or cry, they always leave me with a fresh perspective on life. Each of the TAL radio episodes are free for exactly one week, beginning the Monday after broadcast. Some of my favorite episodes: Kid Logic, It’s Never Over, Meet The Pros…ahhh, there are so many good ones!
Craftsanity
Chatty and sweet Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood interviews crafters from all areas of the indie crafting community…names you’ve heard of and ones you haven’t. I particularly enjoyed #75 with Emily Martin of the Black Apple, #9 with Denyse Schmidt and too many more to list. (I was lucky enought to talk to Jennifer twice, episodes #24 and #68 if you’re interested in lots of ums, y’knows, with some stuff about me in between)
The Moth
A new favorite…Live story telling performances that are always insightful and entertaining! Small warning for small ears…there is a bit of profanity on occasion, so do listen when little ones are out of earshot.
The Craftypod
The podcast that’s all about making stuff with Sister Diane. Upbeat chats with Diane’s guests range from specific crafts to crafting as a business. Her latest episodes are about marketing yourself and craft book publishing – both are excellent!
Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me
I get more LOL’s from this show! Another NPR classic and lighthearted way to stay caught up with what’s happening in the world. It’s a quiz show format and the panel is remarkably quick and witty…they’re unbelievable.
It’s going to take some serious willpower not to listen to these before my trip this Wednesday. I’ll fill you in about that later. Meanwhile, I’d love some of your podcast recommendations! What do you listen to?
Ooooh, I love “This American Life”!I even like the commercials they do while fundraising for NPR!
“Wait, Wait” is my favorite radio show for listening-whilst-knitting…the archives (free) go back several years, so there’s lots of good knitting ahead đ
ooh thanks for the links – I’m not familiar with some of these.
I enjoy…. craftsanity too, I like to listen to cast-on but I usually re-listen to one of the older episodes with Franklin Habbit Series 1 episode 17. Also Y knit http://yknit.com/.
Have a nice trip!
The Craftsanity and Craftypod podcasts are a couple of my favorites too. Thanks for the tip about the others, which I have not tried. I think Martha has a podcast on cooking, and Alex Anderson has one on quilting. Have a good trip this week.
Thank you so much for including me in this august list!
Fans of This American Life might also enjoy Radiolab:
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/
Foodies will love The Splendid Table:
http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/
I always listen to Wait Wait as well. If you haven’t tried it yet, you should seek out the Ricky Gervais podcasts. THey are crazy and funny!!
Thanks for the podcast links. I already listen to This American Life and Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me. Some others I listen to/watch are:
Music: The Bored-Again Christian (rock, indie, folk, pop music), all of the CBC Radio 3 podcasts, KEXP Live Performances, KEXP Presents Music That Matters, NPR All Songs Considered, NPR Live Concerts from All Songs Considered, The Owl & The Bear, Roots Rock Radio Show, IndieFeed.
Tech: Tekzilla, CNET’s Top 5
Variety: The Totally Rad Show, Diggnation, Epic Fu, popSiren, Savage Love Podcast, NPR StoryCorps, Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips, Discovery News, Science Channel Podcast, Wild Chronicles Digital Shorts, Storynory (for the kids)
Sorry I didn’t link them, but if you’re interested in any of them they are easy to find.
Where to start? I listen to podcasts every day at work (okay by my boss). I started out with a few NPR podcasts but the iTunes store always suggests others when I’m downloading one of my regulars, so here are a few that I’ve discovered (all NPR related and all free through iTunes):
The Story with Dick Gordon– daily podcast; Gordon talks to ordinary people with extraordinary stories about their lives. He’s a great interviewer!
Sound Opinions on Demand and All Songs Considered– both excellent weekly podcasts about music; very interesting and varied. I’ve discovered some terrific music through these programs!
RadioLab– AWESOME program with a scientific bent, but produced unlike any other I’ve heard before. They have a short season (new one starts in November) but past episodes are available free through iTunes (examples are Deception, Earworms, Who Am I?, and This Is Your Brain On Love).
Studio 360– Kurt Anderson hosts this interesting program about arts and culture; interviews with and features about noted artists, writers, musicians, etc.
Selected Shorts– great weekly program; recording of live readings by noted performers of short stories and poetry by well- and lesser-known authors.
I definitely love This American Life and Wait Wait too. My coworkers wonder what I’m listening to when I’ve got on Wait Wait because I tend to laugh out loud… they may just think I’m losing it đ
I hope this (extremely long) list will be useful to you and that you’ll enjoy some of the podcasts as much as I do! Happy travels!
One of my absolute favorites is Sticks & String – “A Podcast by an Australian bloke who knits.” Sometimes you can hear his two cats, Tikka and Tiger, meowing in the background :-).
I like podcastle.org, which is a fantasy short stories, escapepod.org, which is sci-fi,
the new yorker short stories,
NPR fresh air,
Stuff you should know, which is about stuff LOL. I also like The onion news (a hoot), ask ninja (also a hoot), and a few others.